1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data management apparatus, a communication control apparatus, and a data management system including the data management apparatus and the communication control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a case where an electronic device such as an image processing apparatus is introduced into a customer environment, it becomes necessary to replace or replenish consumable supplies and components (hereinafter also simply referred to as “consumable supplies”) depending on the manner in which the electronic device is used. Further, in a case where a failure (malfunction) occurs in the electronic device, it becomes necessary to fix the failure. Accordingly, the customer confirms the status of the electronic device and makes an inquiry to a corresponding manufacturer or the distributor (vendor) according to the confirmed status of the electronic device.
In order to support the customer in these instances, a device management service is provided. For example, Japanese Patent No. 4580639 discloses a system an automatic order service for automatically ordering consumable supplies of an electronic device.
However, according to a related art example, it is difficult to provide a high quality device management service. It is desired for a device management service that can manage and provide service of an equal level to all introduced electronic devices together regardless of the customer environment (e.g., location) of the electronic device. It is also desired for the device management service to guarantee a certain degree of quality not only in ordering or fixing consumable supplies but also in making appropriate proposals to improve the customer environment (e.g., introducing new electronic devices, transferring/replacing/removing electronic devices), in changing the configuration of the electronic devices based on the proposals, or in attending to various inquires from the customer.
According to a related art example (e.g., Japanese Patent No. 4580639), the functions of the device management service are separately automated and provided to the customer (plural management tools being provided to the customer). With this device management service, it is necessary to manually gather (count) order status data or response status data in order to make proposals of improvement. Thus, there is a lack of accuracy and rapidness with the device management service according to the related art example. As a result, the device management service according to the related art example is unable to provide a high quality service.
Further, in order to improve the quality of the device management service, the entity that receives inquiries from the customer is required to input data accurately and manage data in view of the results of the responses to the inquiries.